Preparing for the Lord’s Return: A Study of 1 Thessalonians 4

Paul has reminded the believers in Thessalonica of their faithfulness
in midst of some trials. Now he reminds them of what he taught them about
Christian life. Although the Thessalonians had been idolaters (1:9), Paul does
not say anything about the need to avoid idolatry. He focuses on sexual purity,
love, and work.

He begins with a general principle: “Finally, brothers, we instructed you how to live in order to please God,
as in fact you are living. Now we ask you and urge you in the Lord Jesus to do
this more and more” (4:1). Paul’s message in Thessalonica was not just
about how to get eternal life on the day of judgment — it included instruction
about behavior, as well. Some ways of life are more pleasing to God than others
— not because God has arbitrary pet peeves, but because our behavior can help
or hurt the people he loves (including ourselves).

Paul praises the Thessalonians for already doing what he had
told them, and he encourages them to continue, because the instructions are not
just Paul’s personal preferences — he was acting as God’s messenger: “For you know what instructions we gave you by
the authority of the Lord Jesus.”

Sex and sanctification (verses 3-8)

“It is God’s will
that you should be sanctified,” Paul begins. “Sanctified” means to be
holy, or to be “set apart.” In one sense, all Christians have already been set
apart or sanctified or made holy by Jesus Christ. But Paul also encourages
believers to set themselves apart for God’s use.

We are already children of God, but Paul exhorts us to act
like it, to make our behavior consistent with what God says that we are. God
wants us to set our lives in a certain way.

What does sanctification include? The first thing Paul
mentions, and the topic he gives the most space to, is sexual conduct: “that you should avoid sexual immorality.”
Greco-Roman religions had few restrictions on male sexuality, and as a result,
sexual conduct was always high on the list of moral exhortations given to
Gentiles. Paul does not specify here exactly what was included in “immorality”
(he and Timothy may have already covered those details) — he just reminds them
to avoid what they had already been taught is wrong.

Paul explains this instruction not on the basis of Old
Testament laws, but on a more general principle: “that each of you should learn to control his own body in a way that is
holy and honorable.” Self-control was one of the primary virtues of
Greco-Roman civilization, and Paul appeals to that cultural value to argue
against a common cultural vice.

He contrasts self-restraint with people who are driven by
carnal urges: “not in passionate lust
like the heathen, who do not know God.” Paul uses the word ethnē,
which means “nations” or “Gentiles.” His readers were Gentiles, but they are
not to live in the same way as everyone else around them. If they indulge in
sexual immorality, they are acting as if they are ignorant of who God is and
what he wants. They are letting themselves be controlled by the flesh, not the
Spirit.

Paul further says that in this matter “no one should wrong his brother or take
advantage of him.” Sexual immorality hurts other people, and it should
not be done to fellow believers — nor to anyone else, for that matter. People
are not to be used for one’s own self-gratification.

Paul adds yet another reason for sexual purity: “The Lord will punish…for all such sins, as we
have already told you and warned you.” Part of Paul’s message in
Thessalonica was that God would eventually punish selfish behavior that hurts
other people. (The 1984 NIV has the word “men,” but in a passage about sexual
sin, this could easily be read as referring only to males, when the Greek text
is not gender specific. A more literal translation is “the Lord is an avenger
concerning all these things.”)

Paul brings the discussion back to God’s will: “For God did not call us to be impure, but to
live a holy life.” God wants sexual purity. Anything else is impure,
unholy, unspiritual, and unchristian.

Most of Paul’s exhortations are given without supporting
argumentation, but when it comes to sex, it seems that Paul felt that more
support was needed. Perhaps the Thessalonians had asked for some reasons for
what was, in their culture, an odd restriction. So Paul gives several reasons:

immorality comes from a lack of self-control,

it hurts other people,

God wants us to avoid it, and

he will punish it.

Paul concludes by reminding the readers that this is God’s
idea, not just his own: “Therefore, he
who rejects this instruction does not reject man but God, who gives you his
Holy Spirit.” Since God is sharing his life and nature with us, and this
is the life we want for all eternity, then, as best as we can with his Spirit
transforming us, our lives should be holy and conformed to the pattern that
Jesus Christ gives us.

Respectable behavior (verses 9-12)

Paul then moves to two other areas of life — love and work.
He does not say much about either one, apparently because the Thessalonians are
already doing well, and a brief reminder will be sufficient. “Now about brotherly love we do not need to
write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love each other.”
Paul is using two Greek words for love: He did not need to write to them about philia
love (mutual love) because they already had agapē love (unilateral love)
for one another.

“And in fact, you do
love all the brothers throughout Macedonia.” (Apparently they had some
contact with the church in Philippi, and perhaps Berea.) “Yet we urge you, brothers, to do so more and
more.” In other words, good job! Keep up the good work!

Paul turns from their behavior with other believers, to
their role in the larger society around them: “Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and
to work with your hands, just as we told you.” If you want to be
ambitious, count yourself a success when you stay out of trouble — that’s a
pretty ambitious goal in itself. If you are going to be persecuted, make sure
it is for the gospel and not for bad behavior. And don’t be lazy (some Greeks
thought that manual labor was beneath their dignity).

He gives two reasons for this: “so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you
will not be dependent on anybody.” Let your behavior make the gospel
more attractive to unbelievers (similar to Titus 2:5, 8, 10), and don’t become
financially beholden to someone else. Mooching doesn’t do the gospel any
favors. Be an asset to society, and people might be a little more willing to
listen to what you have to say.

The coming of the Lord Paul’s next topic is the return of
Christ — the only place in his letters where he gives details about what will
happen. The Thessalonian believers wanted to know more about this topic. We’d
like to know more, today, too, because some of the things Paul says are
puzzling.

He begins by discussing the resurrection of believers who
die before Jesus returns. It sounds like someone in the Thessalonian church had
died — although it’s possible that the people were asking a hypothetical
question.

Paul assures them that people who die will not miss out on
the great event. They will have places of honor as the saints rise to meet the
returning King.

The return of Christ (verses 13-18)

“Brothers, we do not
want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest
of men, who have no hope.” It seems that the Thessalonians had asked
about what happens to believers who die before Christ returns. Paul replies
that we do not grieve in the way that unbelievers do. Death is still an enemy,
so we may grieve, but our sorrow is mixed with hope because we know that we
will all live again in far better circumstances.

Paul begins by stating the doctrine: “We believe that Jesus died and rose again and
so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in
him.” Because Jesus has been raised from the dead, we will be, too, if
we are spiritually united with him. Those who die will come with Jesus. Just
what they are doing in the meantime, Paul does not say.

He quotes a saying of Jesus — one that is not in the
Gospels: “According to the Lord’s own
word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of
the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep.” By
using the word “we,” does Paul imply that he expects to live until Christ
returns? Many scholars think so, and they suspect the Thessalonians had a
similar belief, thus causing their worries about those who die in this age.

However, it is not necessarily so. If Paul had used the
third-person “those,” he could have implied that he would not live until the
return, and since he did not know one way or another, he used the more
pastorally optimistic “we.”1 Paul knew that believers could die
before Christ returned, and simple logic would tell him that he might be one of
them.

Paul’s point is that people who live until Christ returns
will not have any advantage over Christians who die. The living ones will not
rise to greet Christ while the dead ones are still struggling to get out of
their graves!

Paul sketches a simple sequence: “For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command,
with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead
in Christ will rise first.” There will be a loud sound, and the dead
will rise. Do they come with Christ from heaven, or do they rise from graves on
earth?

Paul is not dealing with that question — he is just
addressing sequence. “After that, we
who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the
clouds to meet the Lord in the air.” This is the key verse of the
“rapture” theory, which says that Christians will rise into the air to meet
Christ and then go with him to heaven while the Great Tribulation savages
unbelievers on Earth.2 Those ideas are not in this verse; they come
from other books of the Bible.

Actually, no verse teaches the rapture — it is only when
verses from different sections of the Bible are combined, that anyone can
construct the theory. The Bible does not promise that believers will escape the
Tribulation, nor does it say that Christ will come once for the saints, and
then a few years later for the Last Judgment. The believers in Thessalonica
would not understand Paul to be saying anything like this.

What would they think? Paul refers to the presence or parousia
of the Lord; the word parousia was also used for the arrival of a king
in a city. Whenever the ruler visited, there was a lot of pomp and ceremony.
Heralds announced the impending event, and city officials formed a procession
to greet the king as he approached, and they would escort him into the city.

By using the word parousia, Paul is suggesting that
kind of scene: Christ the king will come and his people will go to greet him
and escort him as he comes to where they live. The Thessalonian believers were
asking about who would be first in the welcoming procession. Those who die are
not left out of the party —they’ll be raised so everyone can celebrate
together.

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This article was written by Michael Morrison in 2008. Copyright Grace Communion International. All rights reserved. If you'd like to learn more about the Bible, check out Grace Communion Seminary. It's accredited, affordable, and all online. www.gcs.edu.

The bottom line is simple: “And so we will be with the Lord forever.”

And then Paul writes, “Therefore encourage each other with these words.” What are the
encouraging words? Is it that the dead in Christ will be in the welcoming
delegation? That we will be in the clouds? Those are good, but such details
pale into insignificance when compared with the eternal result: We will be with
Christ forever. That is the message that puts all our trials into perspective,
and gives us courage to be faithful until the end.

Things to think about

How would I respond if someone starting giving me
commands I already knew about, and I was already doing a good job in that area?
(verses 1, 10)

How “set apart” is my life for God’s use? Are there
areas of my life that are not given to him? (verse 3)

Why does Paul specify that we should not harm a brother
(or sister) in sexual immorality? (verse 5)

Are all people taught by God to love each other? (verse
9)

The Greeks had a word for it: Πoρνεια

Paul told the Thessalonians to avoid it. He told the
Corinthians to flee from it. He told the Galatians it was a work of the flesh. “It”
was sexual immorality — referred to by the Greek word porneia. This word
comes from pornē, prostitute, which comes from the word pernao, meaning
“to sell.” Porneia is what prostitutes sold. The English word
pornography comes from this same root word.

Although porneia originally meant to consort with
prostitutes, it was also used for a variety of other sexual practices outside
of marriage, including incest (1 Corinthians 5:1), adultery (Matthew 5:32), the
orgy at Sinai (1 Corinthians 10:8; Numbers 25:1), and the immorality in Sodom
(Jude 7). “Among you,” Paul writes in Ephesians 5:3, “there must not even be a
hint of porneia.”

2008

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